


family portrait

by Blue_bird16



Category: The Bastards Crew
Genre: Biting, Cassanda (Ship AI), F/M, Gen, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Implied/Referenced Death in Childbirth, Lise Belrose - Freeform, Off-screen death, Pax "Pip" Glass - Freeform, Pregnancy, artemisia uses they/her pronouns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-11
Updated: 2019-06-11
Packaged: 2020-05-01 17:47:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19182718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blue_bird16/pseuds/Blue_bird16
Summary: Ikarus has always had a family. The people in his family haven't stayed the same.





	family portrait

**Author's Note:**

> Artemisia uses they/her pronouns, sorry if that gets confusing. Also I know what I've done to Perdix but I would die for him okay.

Ikarus was the first to notice the woman. Of course he was, Daidalos never noticed much more than codes and Ikarus (and the code was beginning to take prevalence most days). They stood shyly in the doorway, carrying something bulky and canvas-covered in her large arms. They were the tallest person Ikarus had ever seen in all nine years of his life, her silhouetted shoulders filling the doorway no matter how much they hunched in an effort to remain small. Young Ikarus was in awe. 

“Daida, Daida, there’s someone at the door,” he whispered to his brother, tugging gently on the hem of his shirt. Daidalos  _ hmm _ ed, not looking up from his latest blueprint. “ _ Daida _ ,” Ikarus insisted, trying to get his attention without jostling his arm. Daidalos merely sighed, tweaking something on the paper. 

“Iky, if you broke something, you should know how to fix it,” he murmured absentmindedly. Ikarus huffed, then bit his elbow. 

“ _ IKARUS?! _ ” Daidalos bellowed, starting up and spilling wires and sheets of code and small tools all across the table. Ikarus giggled, scurrying behind one of the other large tables scattered around the main room. 

“H-hello?” a soft, low voice sounded from the door. Ikarus peered over a workbench at her, Daidalos’ cursing abruptly cutting off from behind him. “I-I heard this is where the inventors lived, have I come at a bad time?” they asked, carefully stepping into the room. Ikarus craned his neck up to stare at her. They were taller even than Daidalos, the tallest person Ikarus knew. They were _  awesome _ .

“N-not at all! What can we do for you…?” Daidalos sputtered, trailing off in his polite way that asked for a name without asking anything. Ikarus wrinkled his nose at his brother. Asking things directly would make things go faster and leave more time for Making. 

“I’m Artemisia, of House Elpis. My father contacted you about a potential repair?” they asked softly, awkwardly holding out her bundle. Ikarus rolled his eyes, but kept watching her. They were the most  _ interesting _ person Ikarus had ever seen, but people who couldn’t figure out their own repairs irritated him. It was just  _ so easy _ , why couldn’t they figure it out? 

“Oh, of course! Here, I’ll clear some space for you around here somewhere…” Daidalos said, walking to the table Ikarus was hiding behind to begin shuffling the miscellaneous items left on top of it. 

“They look strong,” Ikarus whispered up at him, doing nothing to help. 

“Don’t bite the customers, Iky,” Daidalos whispered back, a warning in his eyes but a grin curling the corner of his mouth slightly. Ikarus giggled, then ducked fully under the table. “Here, let’s take a look at it,” Daidalos said to Artemisia. There was a thunk over Ikarus’ head, and he glanced over to see his brother’s pale feet dwarfed by the lady’s large work boots next to them. The sight made him giggle again. 

“I tried my hand at fixing him myself, but I don’t know much about coding. I think I got the physical damage all worked out, but he still won’t start,” Artemisia explained, her already soft voice muffled by the thick table above Ikarus.

“You’ve done most of our work for us, then! I can hardly tell the replacements from the original, where were you trained?” Daidalos asked, feet shifting slightly as he examined whatever Artemisia had brought in. Ikarus slowly shifted closer to the thick leather boots. 

“Oh, I wasn’t. Formerly, at least. Picked up most of it from watching my father’s employees, read about the rest in whatever books I could find,” Artemisia replied, voice pleased and slightly more confident sounding. Ikarus was less than an arm’s reach from the boots. He inched closer. 

“ _ Really _ ? You could’ve listed any of Big Three and I would’ve believed you! This work is impeccable,” Daidalos said. There was a rattling, shuffling sound on the table above him. Ikarus was finally in range.

“Oh, you don’t mean that! You’re Crete’s own Inventor, are- _ OH! _ ” Ikarus had struck. His teeth were buried in the thick boots, his arms wrapped around Artemisia’s ankle. 

“ _ Ikarus! _ ” Daidalos scolded, but Artemisia had already started to laugh. With Ikarus still clinging like a limpet to her boot, they lifted her foot easily to dangle Ikarus from it. He just chomped down harder, still unsuccessful in breaking all the way through to her foot. Artemisia smiled down at him, her brown face warm in the workshop’s yellow light steady above her and the sunlight from the door behind her.

“You’re the Inventor’s boy, then?” they asked. Ikarus only worked his teeth farther into the leather, refusing to let go. “Or perhaps his guard dog?” 

“ _ That _ is my little brother, who needs to learn some manners,” Daidalos groused, reaching down to extract Ikarus from her boot. He went willingly enough, pleased to see the deep tooth marks he had left in the leather. He grinned up at Artemisia from his brother’s arms, sharp teeth gleaming, back to Daidalos’ chest as his arms were restrained, feet still dangling above the ground.

“It’s nice to meet you, Mx. Artemisia!” he piped cheerfully and politely. Artemisia winked back at him, her previous anxiety apparently long gone. 

“Nice to meet you too, Mr. Guard Dog.”

~

Ikarus helped Daidalos with the coding for Artemisia’s automaton, picking out the bugs and preening under his brother’s praise. It was a simple thing, designed as nothing more than a fancy pet for fancy people, but complex in its simplicity. 

When Artemisia came back to pick it up, Ikarus was insufferable pleased to see his teeth marks still in her boot. 

“Oh, he’s working perfectly again! My father will finally stop whinging about losing the family cat. My great-grandfather designed it, you know?” Artemisia said, watching the automaton slink around the workshop with Ikarus hot on its tail. Daidalos nodded, awkwardly fiddling with his shirt hem. 

“Yes, family heirlooms and all that. Are you...are you certain you won’t accept my offer to replace your boots?” Daidalos asked, eyes fixed pointedly on his own bare feet. He had wanted to ask something else. Artemisia knew he had, too. 

“Well, there’s no point to it! It’s only one boot, and Ikarus didn’t manage to puncture it fully. Besides, I like the reminder of meeting you,” Artemisia said, looking down at Daidalos looking at his feet as they spoke. They watched a blush spread around his ears and down his neck to disappear down his shirt, and idly wondered how far down it traveled, exactly. 

“Yes, well. That’s good. I’m always telling him that biting people is not a comprehensive way to communicate, and I apologize again for--” Daidalos started to say before Artemisia interrupted him. 

“Daidalos?” they asked sweetly. He raised his head to look up at her, his head only reaching her shoulders when he wasn’t slouching. “Are you planning on actually kissing me, or did you just want to keep thinking about it?” Daidalos’ blush deepened. 

Ikarus looked up from chasing the automaton just in time to see Artemisia bend down to kiss Daidalos, and he reacted overdramatically in disgust as any little brother would. 

~

“Arty, could you help me with this?” Ikarus called over his shoulder, the wires he was trying to braid becoming too unruly for just two hands. He heard the clomping of Artemisia’s boots before her warm hand rested gently on his shoulder. He didn’t take his eyes off the project in front of him in fear of losing concentration or messing up, but he could  _ feel _ Artemisia’s smile as they took in what he was trying to do.

“I thought you said that people who couldn’t do their own repairs were annoying,” they teased, her free hand already doing what Ikarus needed her to do. He huffed.

“Yeah, well, I was doing fine until the wire decided it didn’t want to bend the way I wanted it to anymore, and my hands are still too small to do a lot of what you and Daida do,” Ikarus complained, quickly finishing up the final step. Pleased, he sat back and watched as the little beetle he had made began to flutter into life. Artemisia laughed softly next to him. 

“You’re not the only who still needs to do some growing in this house,” they said. Excitedly, Ikarus turned to face Artemisia. They stood with her feet planted shoulder width apart, hands braced against her lower back and pregnant belly hanging low. They smiled at Ikarus. 

“Is he moving again?” Ikarus asked. Artemisia nodded. “Can I feel?” he held up his hands, waiting for permission.

“Of course, Iky,” they said, reaching out to lead his hands to where the baby was kicking. “I think he likes you. He always kicks when he hears your voice,” they whispered, watching the joy fill Ikarus’ face like a sunrise. He stared at her belly, mouth hanging open slightly in awe.

“Babies can hear us talking?” he asked, dazed as he always was when presented with the life growing in Artemisia’s belly. 

“Of course! He might not remember what you have to say, but he’ll hear you,” Artemisia said, amused but so full of love for all her boys. Ikarus chewed his lip lightly, then moved closer to her belly.

“Hello, baby! I’m Iky,” he said seriously, gasping when another kick hit his hand, almost in response, it seemed. He looked up at Artemisia excitedly, who grinned and nodded encouragingly. He looked back down, and started again: “Hello, baby. I’m your uncle! I love you so much, baby, but it’s okay if you forget that, because I’ll tell you everyday!” he said, then looked up at Arty. “What’re you gonna name him?”

“Perdix, I think, after my uncle. He was a great Inventor in his time, like you and your brother,” they said. 

“Perdix,” Ikarus repeated happily. Her smile was as bright as the sun, and Ikarus grinned back in response. Between them, the baby kicked happily away. 

~

“Arty’s been in the doctor’s room a really long time, Daida. What’s happening?” Ikarus asked worriedly, feet below the chair he was sitting in. Daidalos was pacing the waiting room in the Elpis’ house reserved for their private doctor. 

“I don’t know, Iky. I don’t know a lot about babies, but I’m sure Arty’s gonna be fine,” he said. Ikarus frowned. 

“The doctor didn’t want her to have the baby at home because they had high blood pressure. They seemed really worried about Arty,” he protested. Daidalos just shook his head, looking nervous.

“I don’t know, Iky. I just. Let’s just be quiet for-”  
“Mr. DeSmith, please come with me,” the doctor said, appearing suddenly through the door Arty had disappeared through hours ago, startling Ikarus and Daidalos. Daidalos nodded, then glanced over at Ikarus with a stern look that brokered no argument: Ikarus was to stay seated while he dealt with this.

Soon enough, Ikarus was alone in the room, with nothing to do but wait.

~

And wait.

~

He heard muffled shouting, briefly, but when he tried the door, it wouldn’t open for him. Not entirely sure why, Ikarus felt dread welling up from his stomach, restricting his breathing and placing a lump in his throat. 

He returned to his chair, and tried not to cry.

~

The door slammed open a while later, scaring Ikarus and causing him to jump. He looked up to see Daidalos marching across the room. There was a small bundle in his arms, and the doctor was trailing timidly behind him. Ikarus scrambled up and after his brother to keep up, looking back only once to see the doctor wipe a tear from their cheek. 

“Daida?” Ikarus asked hesitantly when they had left the Elpis household. He tried to catch a glimpse of what Daidalos was carrying, but his brother was moving too fast and was still too tall for him to get a good look. 

“They’re fucking murderers in that place, Ikarus. Arty never stood a  _ chance _ ,” Daidalos spit. 

Ikarus stopped.  _ ‘Murderers?’ _

“Daidalos, where’s Arty?” he demanded. Daidalos kept walking.

“Daidalos! Where are they?!  _ Daida, where’s Arty?! _ ” Ikarus screamed, the knowledge threatening to drown him but he  _ needed to hear it _ . The wind shifted, and he caught a whiff of the nearby toxic sea. It didn’t burn his throat nearly as much as the fear did.

“They're  **dead** , Ikarus!” Daidalos called back, the sound of a baby crying following his words. Ikarus gasped, the inevitable words still sending an ice cold knife through his heart. The baby cried again, spurring Ikarus on.  _ Perdix _ . His nephew. Arty’s  _ son _ . He broke into a run, meeting up with Daidalos just as he reached the door to their private house. 

“Let me see him, Daida,” he demanded. He didn’t know why it was so important he take the baby from Daidalos, but he couldn’t recognize the look on his brother’s face anymore and Arty has just  _ died _ and Perdix was  _ crying _ and he  _ could still smell the boiling sea and he just needed to hold Perdix right now _ .

Daidalos paused on the threshold. He stared down at the baby crying in his arms, face stony and like a stranger’s to Ikarus. 

The world waited with baited breath.

Finally, Daidalos broke down. He collapsed, cradling his son to his chest as he began to wail alongside him. Ikarus, despite the scene in front of him, felt relief wash over him.

He kneeled down next to his brother, opening his arms for him to sob into Ikarus’ chest. He wrapped one arm around Daidalos’ shoulders, and with the other he carefully moved the blanket to see Perdix’s face. 

He had a shock of curly red hair, like himself and Daidalos, but everything else was all Artemisia. Her upturned nose, darker skin tone, smaller ears and teeth. Ikarus felt his throat constrict, but sitting there, holding his brother and nephew, Ikarus didn’t feel scared anymore. Whatever had come over Daidalos earlier had fled, and now all that was left was...well, all that was left was the three of them. 

~

Ikarus had always loved the Building and the Making with his brother. He loved the puzzles Daidalos set out for him, and, later, standing next to him and Artemisia and working on clients’ commissions and repairs. 

Perdix eclipsed all of that. 

He grew fast, it seemed to Ikarus. He was a newborn, Ikarus blinked, and then he was crawling all over the workshop and getting everywhere he wasn’t supposed to be. ‘This is karma,’ he thought ruefully, chasing after the younger boy the same way he remembered Daidalos chasing after him. 

Perdix’s first steps were towards a very dangerous pile of scrap in the corner, hastily covered with a canvas sheet by Daidalos as Ikarus swooped Perdix up. No matter how fast the boy grew, he always fit perfectly into Ikarus’ arms. The striking, near-painful resemblance to Artemisia never really went away, but Perdix looked more and more like himself the older he got. 

His teeth and ears would never be as big as Ikarus’ or Daidalos’, but his eyes did have the tapetum lucidum that Artemisia’s lacked. His build was slightly more like his father’s, thought his mother’s height definitely seemed to have been passed down to him. By the time Ikarus was sixteen, he was two inches taller than Daidalos at 6’3”, and Perdix was already around four feet tall at age six.

He also seemed to inherit his mother’s sharp mind.

“Dad, you’re doing it wrong!” Perdix complained, trying to crawl into the man’s lap while Ikarus smirked on the other side of him. “Uncle Iky, tell him he’s doing it wrong!” 

“What’s Daida doing wrong, Perdy?” Ikarus asked, smug at the pained expression on Daidalos’ face at his old nickname.

“If he uses this string instead of the one I gave him, the system’s only gonna fry itself!” Perdix yelled, finally making his way into Daidalos’ lap and pointing energetically at the small holograph he brought with him. Daidalos sighed, but dutifully looked over the code. Ikarus reached over and began absently playing with Perdix’s hair while the young boy eagerly surveyed all the dangerous tools on the table he could lay his small hands on. 

“Shit, Perdy’s right,” Daidalos finally muttered, causing Ikarus to cackle and Perdix to shriek in joy.

“I’m right! I’m right! I’m right and Daddy said the shit word!” he crowed. Ikarus cackled harder, while Daidalos tried to convince his son he couldn’t say words like that yet and that he was being Very Rude. 

They were, somehow, happy. 

~

Minos’ thug grabbed Perdix a year later.

~

“--and  _ that’s _ why you have to connect the panel that way. I don’t know  _ how _ you haven’t wrecked the  _ Partridge _ , yet, Iky, especially when you don’t have someone like  _ me _ around to watch your back,” Pip was rambling, playing with a flickering hologram of the  _ Partridge’s _ likeness. Ikarus was staring in rapt attention, trying his best not to drool oil on Lise’s soft pillows as  _ Cass _ helpfully piped some lilting music into the room. Lise, themself, was laying diagonal to Ikarus, their metal feet crossed jauntily on his shoulder with their head in Pip’s lap where they sat level with Ikarus’ shins. 

“You tired, yet, pipsqueak?” Lise yawned, causing Pip to yawn in response.

“No,” they lied. Ikarus smirked at them both. Lise groaned when they saw it.

“Yes, we all know  _ you _ aren’t tired, Ikarus. The day Ikarus is tired is the day  _ Cass _  tells the truth,” Lise grumbles.

_‘How polite, Lise,’_ _Cassandra_ intones from the ceiling. Lise waves her off, swinging her legs away from Ikarus and curling up more comfortably against Pip, yawning again. 

“Lise, the door’s locked, right?” Pip asked, dismissing the hologram they were all playing with earlier. Lise hummed an affirmative, wrapping one of their arms around Pip’s waist. 

“Nothing’s getting in here without our sayso, Pip. Now you two, shut up, it’s gonna be Cass Bedtime here in a minute,” Lise said. Pip sighed, then slumped sideways to make themselves comfortable against Lise. Ikarus snorted. 

“Curfew,” he snarked, but started making himself comfortable nonetheless. Lise kicked him gently as the lights began dimming.

“I don’t care if it’s the end of the world,  _ Icky _ , I’m tired and need my beauty sleep. Fuckers,” Lise mumbled affectionately. Ikarus nipped at their calf before throwing himself behind them, jostling the pillows and making Pip giggle and Lise groan. He threw an arm over the two of them, nose-to-nose with Pip and chin tickled by Lise’s hair. 

“Good night, Ikarus,” Pip said. “Good night, Lise.”

“Night,” Ikarus said simply.

“If you get that disgusting toxic sludge in my hair, I’m throwing you out of an airlock,” List grumbled. 

_‘Sleep poorly and have nightmares!’_ _Cassandra_ whispered, the lights finally turning all the way off.

They were, somehow, happy. 

**Author's Note:**

> *screaming from the rooftops* THEY ARE A FOUND FAMILY AND I LOVE THEM


End file.
